Hector Barbossa
Captain Hector Barbossa is a male film character who features in Pirates of the Caribbean.
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Biography
Hector Barbossa was a male human being who grew up to become a pirate on Earth.
He eventually joined the crew of Captain Jack Sparrow where he served as first mate aboard the Black Pearl.
At some point, he embarked on a romance with Margaret Smyth where she became pregnant with their child. She gave birth to a daughter named Carina Smyth though Margaret died shortly afterwards. Feeling himself unworthy of being a father, he gave his daughter away to an orphanage as he did not want her to live the life of a pirate and gave her surname after the girl's mother.
Barbossa continued to be under Captain Sparrow for two years before he incited a mutiny against him and left him stranded on a desert island, taking the Pearl for himself. He and his men were subsequently cursed to be immortal and undead forever after they stumbled across a treasure chest full of Aztec gold, blood money by the Aztecs to Hernado Cortez. They were doomed to forever be hungry and thirsty, and to appear as rotting corpses and skeletons in the moonlight. Barbossa figured out that to undo the curse, they had to return all the gold coins to the chest and appease the Aztec gods by giving their blood as payment. But because Barbossa had disposed of "Bootstrap Bill" Turner, he needed Bootstrap's offspring for this.
Over the course of the next eight years, the crew raided and pillaged settlements throughout the New World, searching for the lost pieces of Aztec gold. At last, they returned all but one of the coins to the chest. One day, Barbossa and his crew sensed the last piece. They followed the ‘call’ of the gold, and finally ended at the British colony of Port Royal. They attacked at night, blending in perfectly with the dark and cloudy night. The Pearl was followed by an eerie fog, a side-effect of the cursed crew's long-term occupation of the ship. Due to the cover, the Pearl was able to attack Port Royal unhindered. Barbossa ordered his cannonneers to fire on Fort Charles. While the ship occupied the fort's attention, Barbossa sent a raiding party to collect the coin. Some time later, the boats returned laden with swag when two of Barbossa's crewmen, Pintel and Ragetti, came aboard with Elizabeth Swann, a young female ‘adversary’ who had invoked the right of parley as per the Pirate's Code. When the Bo'sun approached the two pirates about this captive, the young woman tried to explain her intention to negotiate with their captain, but was silenced when the Bo'sun slapped her hard across the face. Before the Bo'sun could strike again, Captain Barbossa's hand reached out and grabbed the Bo'sun's wrist, reprimanded him and apologized to the woman. Elizabeth audaciously demanded that Barbossa's crew cease their attack on Port Royal, or else she would throw the Aztec medallion she wore around her neck overboard. Barbossa tried to hide the crew's need for the coin, but the young woman said that she had seen the Pearl on her crossing of the Atlantic from England eight years before. After Barbossa asked for the woman's name, she responded by saying her name was Elizabeth ‘Turner’ and that she was a maid in the governor's household. Barbossa was thrilled by having found Bootstrap Bill Turner's child after all these years, realizing the pirates may finally be able to lift their curse, and so Barbossa agreed to leave Port Royal in exchange for Elizabeth handing over the medallion. Afterwards, ‘Miss Turner’ demanded she be taken ashore, Barbossa refused and welcomed her aboard the Black Pearl as they set sail.
Instead, it was actually Will Turner who was Bootstrap's son, and Barbossa captured him following a fierce sea battle between the Black Pearl and the Interceptor, after which Barbossa also stranded Jack on the desert island a second time. Jack escaped and found his way to Barbossa's stronghold on Isla De Muerta with the help of Commodore Norrington and the Royal Navy, where he dueled his mutinous former first mate until Will Turner returned the last coin to the chest, smeared with his blood, thereby lifting the curse. With Barbossa no longer immortal, Jack shot him in the chest with a bullet he'd been saving for just such a purpose for ten years. Barbossa fell instantly dead.
Later, Barbossa's body was recovered by Tia Dalma and brought back to life. He still considered the Black Pearl to be "his" ship, but agreed to assist Elizabeth and Will in rescuing Jack from the end of the world.
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Hector Barbossa was a tall man speaking with a strong West Country accent and used the pirate ‘Arrrr’ in his accented speech. His voice gravelly with age, but was still powerful. His face was covered with pockmarks or freckles and he had many scars, the most notable one is under his right eye. He wore his brown, greying hair long and partially loose, partially tied up to a thin plait. He had a straggly beard running down to the base of his neck One of his key desires after falling to the curse was returning the Treasure of Cortés to its home and freeing himself from being undead.
Powers and abilities
For a time, he was transformed into an undead being as a result of stealing the cursed Treasure of Cortés. This resulted in himself and his crew being immortal yet their undead nature was exposed in moonlight. The curse meant that they could feel pain from injuries but could never die and neither could they taste food or drink.
Notes
- Hector Barboassa was created by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Stuart Beattie and Jay Wolpert where he was portrayed by actor Geoffrey Rush and featured in the setting of Pirates of the Caribbean.
In other media
Video games
Appearances
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl:
